Updated 11:22 PM EST, Sun, Dec 22, 2024

Immigration Reform News 2014: The Pressure is on for the White House to Expedite Deportations

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It seems that everyone wants answers to the child immigration crisis plaguing the United States. Advocates are hoping for leniency, others want immediate action to remove. And while the White House has previously erred on the side of asylum for children fleeing violent countries, they now seem to have changed that tune completely.

In a matter of weeks, the Obama admiinistration has gone from addressing immigration by explanation, and have now settled on deportation instead.

An announcement was made by the White House on Friday, stating that the administration will be taking new measures to expedite removal proceedings for the undocumented immigrants that are flooding borders.

In conjunction with that announcement came news of plans to build yet another detention center to house families who cross the border illegally.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this facility will be located on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's Artesia, N.M. campus. It will hold families who are caught crossing border lines, and the focus of the center will indeed be on expediting their removal from the United States.

"We will house them in facilities that are humane and compliant with legal requirements," Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told The Wall Street Journal.

His disclaimer comes amidst concerns about the conditions in which undocumented immigrants are currently housed. A similar facility to house families was shut down in 2009 amidst reports of inhumane conditions, and attention has been focused toward the ones that do remain, as overcrowding and long waits are a consistent problem.

It's a strange change of pace for the administration, who have built a case around the violence and poverty these immigrants face in their home countries. And it's a tough blow for advocates, who were hoping for better.

While expediting the deportation of adults and families is the answer to immigration issues by the White House, it remains to be seen whether that choice will also be effective or humane.

But with only 100 family beds in the current detention system, and 39,000 families apprehended, a new facility unfortunately meets the crucial need.

And although the changes to deportation proceedings are set to address the issue with immigrant adults and families, there is little word on what will happen to the children who cross the border unaccompanied.

They are treated differently under the law, and with the numbers rising daily, there is a desperate need for answers.

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